Dying Toronto Girl Gets Love From Hero, Peers

Young people in Toronto’s Jewish community came out in large numbers last week to support one of their own, a 16-year-old girl named Olivia Wise, who has terminal brain cancer.

Inspired by a video of Wise singing Katy Perry’s hit song, “Roar,” which has gone viral on YouTube and attracted worldwide attention, some 1,500 university and high school students participated in making a video for her. They wanted to send Wise their best wishes and let her know how much they admire her.

The students’ video came hot on the heels of a 30-second video message of support directly from Katy Perry herself.

“I love you. A lot of people love you, and that’s why your video got to me. It moved everybody that saw it,” the singer told Wise. “I just wanted to send you some love and some light and tell you that I’m thinking about you. Thank you so much and keep roaring!”